A New and Exciting look for SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University

When I joined Downstate five years ago, I understood that there were two things we needed to do to elevate Downstate as a top-quality institution. First, we needed a new identity, and second, we also needed a new website.

On Tuesday, December 7, Downstate Health Sciences University revealed its new identity, a significant step in our 160-year history, unveiling a new logo and brand identity! In addition, we also launched our brand new website, www.downstate.edu, another long-awaited but necessary transformation for us!

I was thrilled to join Downstate, faculty, staff, students, and friends to announce the exciting news. I was joined by Administration senior vice president Heidi J. Aronin, MPA, and University Hospital of Brooklyn Chief Patient Experience Officer Wren Lester, Ph.D., for the grand reveal!

This innovative brand identity launch features a new logo that honors Downstate's legacy, establishes an approachable, legible, and contemporary visual identity, and reflects our commitment to an accessible institution. In addition, a sub-brand for the University Hospital of Brooklyn also developed that streamlines clinical offerings under Downstate Health to be supplemented by appropriate naming conventions for these sites. As part of the ongoing branding rollout, Downstate's new identity will be showcased in a series of ads currently under development that will soon be seen throughout the community and Brooklyn.

To date, this is the most significant effort undertaken by Downstate to revamp its identity comprehensively. Our clinical, academic, and research growth is more critical than ever as COVID-19 now requires us to be agile enough to remain competitive, forward-thinking, and evolving. We considered our esteemed clinical and research history in Dr. Robert Furchgott's Nobel Prize in Phsyiology or Medicine for discovering nitric oxide as a new cellular signal, Dr. Samuel Kountz's pioneering work in renal transplantation, and Dr. Raymond Damadian's invention of the first MRI machine.

I am also proud that approximately sixty-five percent of College of Medicine graduates remain in New York State to practice medicine, that Downstate receives more than $48M in research funds each year through the Research Foundation, and that UHB healthcare professionals see more than ________ patients each year from Brooklyn and throughout New York City.

Our new look and logo now capture all that we are—our purpose, our contributions to sciences, and our institutional offerings. Although our legacy logo with the Brooklyn Bridge represents personal and positive emotions about Downstate, after much research, we could not determine why the Brooklyn Bridge was initially selected—other than our location. Therefore, it was essential to rethink our Downstate brand.

In the next few weeks, you will receive brand usage guidelines, electronic access to the brand catalog, and detailed information on the appropriate use of the new logo and templates of business collateral, all necessary for migrating to the new identity. It will provide the foundation for consistent application of the Downstate brand across all media, including interface, web, collateral, and promotions. A darker version of Downstate blue will serve as our brand's corporate colors for all print and electronic applications.

The consistent representation of the Downstate core colors helps reinforce our brand's distinctiveness. Therefore, an extended color palette has been created for presentations and other materials. In addition, a library of templates that include PowerPoint presentations, memoranda, business cards, and other stationery and publication elements will also be downloadable.

I extend great thanks to the Office of Communications & Marketing under whose purview both of these projects fell. Working with branding vendor MBLM, Sefanit Befekadu spearheaded the branding project. At the same time, graphic designer Sean Thill led the logo and identity development creation and process. In addition, marketing director James Gerontzos, MBA, and Special Projects director Ellen Watson worked provided review, context, input, and information to complement the creative process.

As Brooklyn's only academic medical health sciences center, Downstate remains a pillar throughout New York, and most significantly in the borough as a leader in academia, research, and innovative care.

One of our rebrand's most dramatic and visible components is unveiling our new website. The new website elevates our presence, drives engagement and growth, and enhances our reputation. The new design and layout is a modern design created to accommodate easy navigation, better showcase who we are, and be user-friendly. In addition, the new website offers prospective students, employees, researchers, medical professionals, and other stakeholders a more comprehensive understanding of the Downstate enterprises.

Developing a new website was one of my priorities when I joined Downstate. Following more than a year of an extensive course that included an RFP, the bidding, procurement, and vendor selection process, we selected mStoner. This company also created the www.suny.edu website. Unfortunately, just as they began working on the initial research phase, engaging and interviewing stakeholders, we were met with COVID-19. After a brief hiatus through the apex of the pandemic, mStoner and the New Media Services team returned to work on the website amid the pandemic working hard to deliver the new website.

However, as with all new websites, there are some growing pains. The website team of two, Aaron Cormier and Sean Nurse, have seen, read, troubleshoot, and migrated more than 30,000 pages of content in the last two years! They are the go-to resource for all things related to the website. I am grateful to them both and New Media Services director John Zubrovich for undertaking this arduous task.

Both of these critical launches are transformative milestones in our history that will enable us to educate, discover, heal, and empower as the leaders of diverse, culturally-competent education, research, and clinical care, as well as the model for health equity.

Spirit Week Ingenuity

We premiered Downstate's new brand, logo, and website, including two interactive activities that enhanced the celebration and encouraged campus-wide participation. The signature wall, a seven-foot-tall backdrop, gave everyone a chance to be a part of Downstate history by signing their names and leaving congratulatory messages. The mosaic wall captured the portraits of students, staff, and faculty, filling in faces where they were morphed into one graphic element. The complete image represents "ingenuity," which best captures the Downstate promise, vision, and mission. Both pieces are temporarily on display in the PHAB lobby. I encourage you to stop by and spend some time reading the good wishes of your colleagues.

COVID-19 placed extreme, and at times overwhelming, pressures on us, pushing the clinical, research, and educational resources to their limits. Yet, faculty, staff, and students remained tireless, creative, and hardworking, continuously meeting the challenge with innovation, determination, and collaboration, ensuring that our vulnerable populations were cared for as intended, and students educated to take their rightful places in the Downstate community.

These new elements of our identity cast an authentic spotlight on what we do and who we are. These experiences are captured thoughtfully, revealing the Downstate community's core and commitment to everyone who comes here for education, patient care, or working in their particular roles.

The brand campaign and the new website are the most significant undertaking for Downstate and set the foundation for sustained future efforts. Beginning in January, there will be a series of advertisements throughout the community and Brooklyn telling everyone about Downstate, as well as additional media opportunities to extend the campaign's reach.

I am grateful for this new and exciting chapter for Downstate and look forward to upholding our new brand identity. To learn more about the process of the branding campaign, you can view the presentation here.

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